Report: China backtracks on human rights

WASHINGTON -- China's human rights record deteriorated sharply late last year with a crackdown on political dissent that reversed recent signs of improvement, the Clinton administration said Friday.

The administration's critical assessment of China's human rights performance came on the eve of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's departure for Beijing and a day after the Senate urged the administration to push for a resolution condemning China at the U.N. Human Rights Commission's meeting next month in Geneva.

President Clinton, in a speech in San Francisco, defended his policy of promoting ties with China. But he said China will come to understand, sooner or later, that it ''simply cannot purchase stability at the expense of freedom.''

''They remain unwilling to open up their political system, to give people a peaceful outlet for dissent,'' Clinton said.

The administration still has not announced a decision on whether it will push for the human rights resolution condemning China.

''We're considering what our approach would be,'' Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh told a House panel. He suggested that Albright might give an indication of the U.S. decision next week while she is in China.

In its annual report to Congress on human rights worldwide, the State Department said China's loosening of restrictions on political debate and activism in 1997 and most of 1998 ended abruptly last fall.

During President Clinton's visit to Beijing last June, the Chinese people for the first time witnessed on live television and heard on radio uncensored comments and debate on formerly taboo issues such as human rights abuses, the crushing of the pro-democracy turnout at Tiananmen Square in 1989 and Tibet.

Books on Clinton's visit were published later and newspapers expanded their reports on corruption and legal reform.

But this trend was halted and China went into reverse on human rights beginning in November while all along continuing ''to commit widespread and well-documented human rights abuses'' that defied international norms, the department said.

The human rights report also criticized:

n Serbia, for its ''brutal crackdown'' on civilians and separatist insurgents in Kosovo, and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for using the military, police, judiciary and state-controlled media to strangle dissent throughout Serbia.

n Mexico, where it said police regularly obtain confessions from suspects through torture and the information is used in court.

n Turkey, where it said serious human rights abuses, including killings and torture, continued despite the promises of then-Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz that human rights would be his government's highest priority in 1998.

n Israel, where the report found a significant reduction in the scope of human rights abuses against Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza. At the same time, the report said, ''Israeli security forces abused Palestinians suspected of security offenses. The government continues to detain without charge numerous Palestinians, some of them for lengthy periods, although the number has decreased significantly during the year.''

In China, the department found that besides killings, torture of prisoners, forced confessions and other practices of an authoritarian state, officials in November began to impose new regulations on the Internet, the publishing industry and social organizations, closed several newspapers and barred politically sensitive publications.

Religious groups experienced interference and repression even as the number of adherents in many churches continued to grow at a rapid pace, according to the report sent to Congress.

Testifying on Capitol Hill, Koh, the assistant secretary of state for human rights, said the report showed that ''the world still has a long way to go.''

He said the administration was keenly aware of congressional support for a resolution criticizing China at the U.N. gathering, taking note of Thursday's 99-0 Senate vote in favor of such a move.

Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House International Relations Committee's subcommittee on human rights, said the report shows ''it's been another bad year for human rights.''

He told Koh that the administration should not only sponsor the resolution in Geneva on China, but should actively promote it among other countries. He said he knew China would heavily lean on developing nations to vote against such a measure.

''It's a priority decision for the administration,'' replied Koh. ''I don't think we pull any punches on China'' in the report. ''We tell it like it is.''

Albright last month voiced strong disapproval of China's crackdown on pro-democracy activists while saying the administration must seek cooperation with China. With its veto power, China can block the United States on several fronts in the U.N. Security Council, including economic punishment of Iraq.

Elsewhere, the administration found that Egypt's security forces tortured and mistreated citizens. The military junta in Burma, it said, targeted all forms of dissent; and in Cuba, despite the visit of Pope John Paul II in early 1998, the Castro government continued to exercise control over all aspects of Cuban life ''and to suppress ruthlessly all forms of political dissent.''.

In Iraq, the regime of Saddam Hussein ''continued its brutal campaign'' of executing perceived political opponents and leaders in the Shiite Muslim community. Syria quashed all organized political opposition and dissent. In Iran, the report said, a movement toward greater political openness was hampered by factional struggle and occasionally violent tactics by hard-liners.